22 
HISTORY OF BRITISH CRUSTACEA. 
✓ 
Gen. 5. HYAS, Leach. 
Outer antennse with the first joint of the movable stem 
flattened and widened on the outer side. Carapace wide, 
rather depressed. Legs much as in Pisa, only longer ; the 
tarsus of the four hind pairs without spines on their lower 
surfaces. 
Hyas Araneus, L. sp. Great Spider Crab . — Carapace 
narrowed in front, and without any distinct contraction 
behind the orbits. 
Common on various parts of the coasts of Scotland, 
England, and Ireland. Dr. James Howden, for instance, 
says that it is frequently met with on sandy beaches, as at 
Musselburgh, in the salmon stake-nets, where it indulges 
its carnivorous propensities on the fish left dry by the tide.^" 
Dr. Howden adds, that the Hyas feeds during the day, and 
seems to prefer its food a little high. Sir Robert Sibbald 
calls it the Harper Crab. It is very common in the Moray 
Eirth, near low-water mark. Mr. Gordon says that the 
fishermen there call it ct sea-tead,” that is sea-load. 
Hyas coarctatus, Leach. Contracted Crab . — Carapace 
* Proc. R. Phys. Soe. Edin., Jan. 1853. 
